PME is a monthly survey on labor and income from work in Brazil. The survey follows the recommendations of the International Labor Organization and intends to produce results to help the analysis of its series together with the national accounts, making possible comparisons at international level. Thus methodological procedures aim at separating individuals who work from those who do not work (those who are looking for work and those who are non-active).

Provides indicators of the labor market about the employment status of the resident population 10 years old and over, employment and unemployment of the economically active people, nominal and real average income, classes of worker and formal work contract for people employed, and open unemployment rate, following the conjunctural dynamics of employment and unemployment having as collecting unit the household. The survey began in 1980.

For the persons who work, the survey investigates the occupation, the branch of economic activity, the class of worker, those having more than one job, the income actually earned in the previous month, the number of hours actually worked etc. For the individuals looking for work the survey investigates the steps taken, the time spent, if they had worked before with or without remuneration, the occupation, the branch of economic activity and the class of worker in the last job. For those who are non-active, it investigates if they had looked for work in a 30 or 60 day period of reference.

Universe:

Data are obtained from a probability sample of, approximately, 38,500 households located in the Metropolitan Areas of Recife, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Porto Alegre.